A stick-type cosmetic container in which a stick-type cosmetic filled therein is projected and retracted by rotating an outer cylinder is widely used as a container for lipsticks and other cosmetics such as lip cream and concealer because of its usability or some other reasons.
The stick-type cosmetic container in the related art includes, for example, an outer cylinder 10, a sleeve 2 and an inner container 7 filled with the stick-type cosmetic with an outer decorative cylinder and a lid removed, as shown in FIG. 1a and FIG. 1b. FIG. 1b is a cross-sectional view substantively showing only the inner container 7 (the stick-type cosmetic is not shown), and FIG. 1a is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which only the sleeve 2 is removed.
A small projection 8 is provided on the lower portion of the outer surface of the inner container 7, and an inner container guiding groove 3 is formed on the sleeve 2, and a helical groove 11 is formed on the inner surface of the outer cylinder 10. The small projection 8 on the inner container 7 moves upward and downward along the inner container guiding groove 3 on the sleeve 2 in accordance with the rotation of the helical groove 11 on the outer cylinder 10, and the stick-type cosmetic is projected and retracted accordingly.
In this manner, the small projection 8 of the inner container 7 moves upward and downward along the inner container guiding groove 3 of the sleeve 2 in accordance with rotation of the outer cylinder 10. However, if it moves endlessly, the inner container 7 finally drops out of the sleeve 2, and thus it is necessary to limit the movement of the small projection 8 on the inner container 7 to a certain range. Therefore, in the stick-type cosmetic container in the related art, the inner container 7 is prevented from being dropped out by closing both ends of the inner container guiding groove 3 or by avoiding formation of the helical groove 11 to the end of the inner surface of the outer cylinder.
The stick-type cosmetic container in the related art, having such structure described above, has no problem when it is used as a disposable container. However, when refilling or replacing is considered, it is very inconvenient to use. In other words, since the inner container is configured not to be dropped out, replacement of the inner container itself has to be done after disassembling the cosmetic container once.
In recent years, in accordance with widespread movement of resource saving or recycling, cosmetic containers which can be refilled or replaced are preferred. However, as regards the stick-type cosmetic container, the container in which only the stick-type cosmetic can be replaced has not been provided as a matter of fact in above-mentioned reasons.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a stick-type cosmetic container in which refilling and replacement can easily be performed, while the risk of dropping of the inner container in normal use can be avoided.